The legalised butcheries of the Bushman race

The title of this week’s blog is taken from something that the poet, writer and later anti-slavery worker Thomas Pringle (1789-1834) wrote concerning the period in which he lived in the Eastern Cape in the border areas. It appears in an excellent new book which explores the relationship between Pringle‘s work and writings in Scotland, the Eastern Cape, and London, and uses this to put greater depth and complexity to the idea of his liberalism. In the ‘Narrative’ that is part of Pringle‘s African Sketches there is much about the butchery of San people both in Pringle‘s time and earlier, something which other work on the WWW collections has been looking at recently via analysing a letter written in 1808 by Lt Col Richard Collins to Governor Caledon. A new Trace on this will appear shortly and join other new examples posted recently.

The book in question is: Matthew Shum (2021) Improvisations of Empire: Thomas Pringle in Scotland, the Cape Colony and London 1789–1834 Anthem Press, London.

Last updated:  19 August 2021